The EU’s post-Conflict Intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina: (re)Integrating the Balkans and/or (re)Inventing the EU?” Southeast European Politics

Despite the often-cited “fiasco ” of the EU during the Yugoslavian wars, the EU’s later interventions in the Balkans, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), may have served as a scenario to foster the emergence of an EU whose international identity is that of a regional normative power. The EU’s intervention in BiH, supported by significant economic assistance and using military instruments, has proved essential to endorsing the institutional-building process currently taking place in BiH. This article explores the consequences of the EU’s continued activities, both for BiH and the EU itself. It argues that a parallel process has taken place in the last decade facilitating the (re)integration of BiH in the European mainstream and the (re)invention of the EU as a regional normative power, aiming to promote regional cooperation, human rights, democracy and rule of law. But these developments have not occurred without problems, which this article also addresses